South Wigston railway station

This article is about the current railway station. For former Midland Counties Railway station, see Wigston South railway station.

South Wigston
265px South Wigston railway station in 2006.
Location
Place	South Wigston
Local authority	Borough of Oadby and Wigston
Coordinates
Grid reference	SP587986
Operations
Station code	SWS
Managed by	East Midlands Trains
Number of platforms	2
DfT category	F2
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2004/05	41,921
2005/06	35,812
2006/07	37,576
2007/08	45,955
2008/09	42,698
2009/10	45,286
2010/11	53,946
2011/12	58,630
2012/13	64,408
2013/14	66,658
History
1986	Opened
National Rail – UK railway stations
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at South Wigston from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.
UK Railways portal

South Wigston railway station is a railway station serving the suburb of South Wigston, Leicester, England. The station is on the Birmingham to Peterborough Line about 2 miles (3 km) south of Leicester. South Wigston station is owned by Network Rail and managed by East Midlands Trains (EMT) Train Operating Company (TOC). Not all trains operating between Birmingham and Leicester stop here. Although the station is only served by CrossCountry, it is managed by East Midlands Trains as CrossCountry does not manage any stations.

The station is unstaffed, so passengers buy the full range of tickets for travel from the guard on the train at no extra cost. Facilities on the platforms are limited, consisting only of two "bus shelter" type canopies to protect passengers from the weather and a time-table and notice board.

History

Wigston had three railway stations: Wigston South on the Midland Counties Railway opened in 1840, Wigston Magna on the Midland Main Line opened in 1857 and Glen Parva on the South Leicestershire Railway opened in the 1860s. However, British Railways closed all three stations by 1968.

The present South Wigston station was opened on Saturday 10 May 1986 and is at a new site about 300 metres east of the site of the former Glen Parva station. The new station cost £135,000 to build and was funded by Leicestershire County Council.

There has been long tems talks of a car park for commuters on the adjacent wasteland within the Wigston railway triangle, but this has never been progressed and the land remains a haven for wildlife.

The station was managed by Central Trains until 2007, who operated all trains calling at the station; when the franchise ended, the station management transferred to East Midlands Trains and all services calling are operated by CrossCountry.

South Wigston station's two platforms are staggered, one each side of a wide foot bridge over the railway. Network Rail plans to extend the "up" side platform by up to two metres by 2012 to cater for 4 car trains.

Services

There are regular services to Leicester and Birmingham New Street: usually one train in each direction every two hours (Monday to Sunday), increased to hourly or even half-hourly in peak times. A few trains on the service between New Street and Stansted Airport via Cambridge call at South Wigston, but most pass through without stopping.

References

Preceding station		National Rail		Following station
Narborough		CrossCountry Birmingham New Street — Leicester		Leicester

External links

• Train times and station information for South Wigston railway station from National Rail